In order to control movement of an element of a machine in a plane, it has been conventional practice to provide a set of ways extending linearly in one direction and another set of ways perpendicular to the first set of ways. Typical of this kind of machine are the drilling and routing machines used in the production of printed circuit boards. In such a machine, a combination of movements along the paths of the two sets of ways will position the machine element, such as a drill spindle, in a desired location A problem with such an arrangement is that ways which will permit accurate movement are expensive to produce. Even with the most meticulous construction, the ways permit accuracy of positioning which is less than ideal for various purposes. The speed of positioning the machine element along two sets of ways is limited and often is less than desired. Moreover, the mechanisms for movement of the machine element may become massive, bulky and expensive, especially for precision machine tools such as automatic drilling and routing machines.